Wish I could update the firmware on mine.
So is there no way to update the firmware on keyboards from the first production run? Nothing we can do to flash a different image?
No, it's not quite that simple.
For anyone who is not happy with the position of the Num Lock, please email help@matias.ca and we'll arrange an exchange for a 2nd production run model, with a right Ctrl key.
If you're potentially reviewing the firmware, one other tweak that would be great: the undo/cut/copy/paste keys appear to send (on a mac) command_l down, c (for copy key), command_l up all at the same time. So it appears that physically releasing the key sends no scan codes. This means that I can't remap them in Karabiner. Whereas if the key send command_l down, c then on key release send the command_l, c up I could remap them with looking for simultaneous keypress scan codes and then for example use them as layer keys. It would be great to see that modification.
Okay, I'll check. I'm not sure how much this would complicate the current code base, but I'll find out.
re: left angle cables
I'm so pleased there was a reason for this decision, I knew there must be as everything on the board is so well thought out. I didn't even think about the laptop use case.
Yes, quite a lot of people using laptops these days. An ergonomic keyboard + laptop stand fixes most of the health problems associated with using them.
One other random question, what was the thought process behind making the left panel control key the same size as the space bar?
We wanted PC users to have a bigger target for doing keyboard shortcuts...
With a Ctrl key that big and convex in shape, you can just sort-of make a fist and use the knuckles of your fingers to hold down Ctrl. This is more comfortable and quicker than using your little finger to hold down Ctrl -- because your hand can stay in home postion and there's no unnatural stretching required.
I believe the USB HID spec actually has scan codes for cut, copy, paste, and maybe undo, etc.
Does anyone know what effect these have, if any, on various operating systems (OS X, windows, linux)? I'm currently traveling so I don't have a keyboard with modifiable firmware handy to test out right now.
Yes, there are HID usage codes for those...
0x7A Keyboard Undo
0x7B Keyboard Cut
0x7C Keyboard Copy
0x7D Keyboard Paste
It's been a while since I last looked into this, but last I checked Mac OS ignores those codes and I believe Windows does also. Not sure about Linux.
In fact, Windows STILL doesn't recognize the code for the Equals key on the number pad. I told them about this back when they were doing Longhorn -- this from the company that's supposed to prioritize business users. Boggles the mind.